Method of producing colored designs on ceramic ware



I Feb. 2l, 1939. w. D; FRD 2,147,770

METHOD OF PRODUCING COLORED DESIGNS ON CERAMIC WARE Filed June 17, 1936 Patented Feb. 21, 1939 ATENT OFFICE METHE F PRGDUCNG COLORED DESIGNS 0N CERAM() WARE,

Walter Dl. Ford, Columbus, Ohio Application .llune 17, 1936, Serial No. 85,761

7 Claims.

This invention relates to a method of producing photographic designs on ceramic ware and to the product obtained thereby. In certain of its more specific aspects, the invention is concerned with the production of portrait plaques of porcelain wherein the portrait appears on the plaque in relief, an object of the invention being to produce such a plaque wherein the design bearing portions thereof are composed of a plurality of layers of homogeneously united ceramic materials and wherein the outer design bearing layer is formed from a porcelain ground layer serving to produce color intensity variations in the relief design and further forming contrasting light and shadow reproductions which impart to the design a cameo appearance.

In accordance with the present invention, the design bearing plaque is cast in a mold in which is produced in intaglio the design to be reproduced in relief on the plaque. The intaglio design in the mold is'formed by a photo-mechanical process of the bichromated gelatin film type, which involves actinic printing through a photographic negative on a surface of actinc gelatin, and subsequent swelling of the printed gelatin by causing it to absorb water so that the portions of the gelatin not acted upon by the light, or to a lesser extent than others, swell or project in relief from the body of the gelatin film. After such a film has been produced bearing a photographic design, the latter is transferred to the plaster of Paris mold in which the design appears in intaglio. The present invention essentially resi-des in producing from such a mold an improved porcelain plaque bearing the aforesaid design in relief and wherein the appearance of the design is signally improved through the employment of a stained or colored porcelain background employed as a backing for the translucent porcelain from which the design is composed, to the end of obtaining definition and contrasts by which the detail of the relief is emphasized.

For a further understanding of the invention,

applying to the mold in slip form the porcelain body of high translucency used informing the outer layer of the plaque and. which fills the intaglio impressions of the design in the mold;

Fig. 4 is a similar View disclosing the step of applying the stained or colored background layer in slip form to the mold after the first slip has been applied thereto;

Fig. 5 is a transverse sectional view disclosing the step of inserting the body layer;

Fig. 6 is a view in front elevation of a portrait plaque formed in accordance with the present invention;

Fig. '7 is a transverse sectional View taken therethrough on the line VII--VII of Fig. 6.

Referring more particularly to the drawing, the numeral I designates a mold which may be formed from plaster and produced by casting, pressing or jiggering in accordance with any well known process of mold formation in the ceramic industry. The mold bears on the upper surface thereof in intaglio a photographically reproduced design, as indicated at 2. This design may constitute the photograph of an individual or object, a drawing, tapestry or fabrics or any other design capable of being photographed. To produce a design, such as indicated at 2, in the mold, I preferably use the gelatin lm process, such as is set forth in the prior patents of Luchter 710,106, Monteath 1,516,199, or as described in Walls Dictionary of Photography (American Photographic Publishing Company) page '73. Briefly described, such a gelatin .lm process comprises the steps of effecting actinic printing through a photographic negative on a surface of bichromated gelatin lm, the lm being carried by a glass plate. The exposure of the gelatin film to the action of light through the photographic negative results, after the immersion of the film in a water bath, in the swelling of such portions of the film which have been least exposed to the action of light. Following the formation of such a lm, bearing a photographic image thereon in relief, a mold, such as indicated at I, is formed by pouring on a confined surface of the lm a moldable material such as plaster of Paris, beeswax or the like. This results in the production in intaglio within the surface of the mold contacting with the lm the design as indicated at 2.

If it is desired to produce ceramic ware bearing said design in relief, such ware is cast directly on the mold I, whereas in event the design should appear in intaglio on the ware, a second mold is produced from the mold I so that the design will appear on the second mold in relief, as will be readily understood.

Assuming that the reproduced design on the ware shall be in relief, the first step in casting such ware is to produce a porcelain composition which, upon firing, attains high translucency. A composition which I have found preferable in this respect is composed by weight of:

Per cent Flint 60 Frit Bentonite i 10 These materials are ground in a dry state in a ball mill for approximately twenty-four hours,

and a slip is made therefrom by adding thereto 100% of water and grinding is continued in a ball mill for approximately twenty-four hours. After this, the slip is screened through a 150 mesh screen. The slip so formed is then poured over the intaglio design, appearing at 2 in the mold I. The plaster in the mold will absorb the water from the slip, leaving a plastic body in the intaglio portion of the mold, as disclosed in Fig. 3. This material is then allowed to set for a few minutes until it assumes a solid but plastic state and the excess material is scraped off the mold, leaving the porcelain body, as illustrated, in the intaglio parts of the mold. This is a somewhat delicate operation, requiring skill and painstaking care to perform it. If two or more scrapings are necessary to remove the excess material in order to produce a smooth flat surface, it is preferable to use a relatively large amount of water as a lubricant for the scraping instrument'indicated at 3. This leaves in the intaglio indentations of the mold an outer plaque forming layer 4 of porcelain material which, when subsequently red, will possess a white highly translucent condition.

The next step in the formation of a ceramic article, an example of which is the plaque 5 disclosed in Fig. 6, is to provide a background layer of a pigmented porcelain. This background layer is composed fundamentally of the same materials as used in the formation of the outer layer fl, except that there is added thereto 10 to 12% of a ceramic coloring stain. A slip is formed from these materials by the addition of approximately 100% of water thereto and the same are ground in a ball mill for several hours and subsequently screened through preferably a 150 mesh screen.

This colored background slip, as indicated in Fig. 4, is then poured on the upper surface of the mold over the outer layer 4 and in direct contact therewith. After fully covering the upper surface of the mold with a thin evenly distributed film of the background slip, the latter is allowed to stand for a period of approximately one minutes time and any excess material removed. The plaster mold absorbs water from the background slip, leaving a thin film of a plastic colored body 6 on the mold.

The cope section l of the mold, of the same composition as the body or drag section l is then placed on the section l, the cope section being of such formation as to produce within the assembled mold a cavity 8 in which the body layer 9 of the plaque 5 is molded. The cope is provided with an opening I0 communicating with the cavity and a funnel Il may be inserted in this opening to provide for the pouring of the body material or layer. In the formation of the body or layer 9, the latter initially comprises a casting slip which is composed of the same fundamental materials as that employed in the production of the layers indicated at 4 and t, namely ground flint, frit and bentonite in the proportions specified.

To these materials there is added 50% of water and the composition is allowed to soak for several hours, the same being then thoroughly mixed and later passed through a 150 mesh screen, but without additional grinding. This casting slip is then poured into the cavity 8 through the funnel or riser il. Following the filling of the cavity, the casting slip is allowed to set for approximately iive minutes. During this time, the plaster will absorb water from the slip inside of the mold, thus leaving a rigid plastic body attached to the pigmented background layer 6 and which, in turn, is attached to the white outer layer 5. filling the intaglio design of the mold.

After being allowed to set for a short time, the plaque, composed of the homogeneously combined layers fl, 6 and 9, is removed from the mold and is allowed to dry slowly in a heated or other suitably controlled atmosphere. The dried piece cr body is then laid on a refractory slab, placed within a kiln and preferably fired to cone 06 1350 F.), followed by slow cooling.

By this method, porcelain ware may be readily produced bearing thereon images or designs in relief or in intaglio, the said designs being particularly clear, natural and well defined, especially in cases of designs constituting photographic reproductions of individuals. The pigmented layer vividly contrasts with the white translucent outer layer constituting the design but at the same time merging into such outer layer to a sufficient extent to enhance the values of lights and shades so that the design possesses a very high degree of naturalness, having quite frequently the appearance of a painted miniature or cameo.

What is claimed is:

l. The method of producing photographic designs on ceramic ware, which comprises reproducing a photographic design in intaglio in a plaster mold from a gelatin nlm, completely nlling the intaglio design of the mold with a porcelain slip and allowing the plaster to absorb the water from the slip to leave a plastic body in the intaglio portion of the mold, leveling the outer surface of said body so that the latter possesses a varying thickness corresponding with the irregularities and depth of the design indentations, applying a second porcelain slip containing a pigment to the mold over the level surface of said first-named slip and allowing the plaster mold to absorb water from the pigmented slip in order to leave a thin film of a colored plastic material on the mold, pouring a third or body slip into said mold and allowing the latter to absorb water therefrom to produce a plastic body homcgeneously joined to the bodies produced by the nrst and second-named slips, removing from the mold as a unit and in joined relationship the plastic materials produced in the mold from said slips and subjecting such material to kiln temperatures, whereby to fuse and permanently harden the material.

2. The method of producing photographic designs on ceramic ware, which comprises utilizing a plaster mold containing a given design reproduced in intaglio therein by a photo-mechanical operation, completely filling the varying depth indentations of said design with a porcelain body in a workable state, said body being of such composition that when subjected to kiln temperatures, it attains high translucency, leveling the outer surfaces of said body when in its Workable state so that the body possesses a varying cross sectional thickness corresponding with the depth of the design indentations, covering the level surface of said body with a background layer of corresponding composition but,contain ing a pigment, applying to the pigmented layer a body or backing layer of ceramic composition, removing the joined layers of materials cast in said mold and subjecting them to high firing temperatures to permanently harden and bond them together.

3. The method of producing photographic designs on ceramic ware which comprises: producing a mold of water-absorbing material containing a photographically reproduced design in intaglio, completely lling the intaglio design of the mold with a slip composed of flint, frit, bentonite and water, causing the water in said slip to be largely absorbed in said mold to leave in the indentations of the mold design a plastic body, smoothing the outer portions of the body uniformly to remove excess material and to cause the body to possess a varying thickness corresponding to the variations in depth of the undulations of the mold design, applying to the smoothed outer surfaces of said body a second slip of a composition corresponding with the rstnamed slip but containing a coloring material, applying a third slip constituting a body material directly to the second or color-containing slip after the water of the latter has been partly absorbed by said mold, removing the layers resulting from said slips from said mold in a joined state, and subjecting the layers to kiln firing,

4. The method of producing ornamental designs on ceramic ware which comprises: utilizing a mold having a photographically reproduced intaglio design formed therein and wherein the indentations of said design possess varying depths, completely filling the indentations of said design with a substantially colorless porcelain slip, permitting said slip to partially solidify, removing excess material from the partially solidified slip from said mold surfaces so that the resulting outer surface of the partially solidified slip will be rendered smooth and flat, the slip thereby possessing a cross sectional thickness varying with the depth indentations of said mold design, applying to the smooth outer surface of said slip a background-forming slip containing coloring material, allowing said background slip to partially solidify, then adding to the background slip a body-forming slip, removing the joined layers formed from said slips as a unit from the mold, and subjecting the slips to sufficient heat to fuse and harden them and to render the layer containing the mold design translucent.

5. 'I'he method of producing ornamental designs on ceramic ware which comprises: utilizing a mold containing a design in intaglio, the depressions forming said design possessing varying depths, filling the depressions of said design with a substantially White porcelain slip, removing excess slip material frorn said mold so that said slip will possess a smooth at outer surface, applying to the smooth outer Surface of said slip a second or background-forming slip containing coloring stain, allowing the resultant layers to set, applying a body-forming slip to the rear of the background layer, removing the joined layers of material formed from said slips as a unit from the mold, and subjecting it to suflicient heat to fuse and permanently harden the article and render the design containing layer substantially translucent.

6. The method of producing ornamental designs on ceramic Ware, which consists in utilizing a mold containing a design in intaglio, the depressions formed in said design possessing varying depths, completely filling the depressions of said design with a colorless porcelain-forming slip to form a design layer, allowing said layer to partially solidify, leveling the upper part of the design layer to cause it to assume a flat planar condition so that the thickness of said layer Will vary uniformly with the depth of the depressions in the mold design, subsequently applying a colorcontaining and background-forming slip to the leveled surfaces of the first slip, removing said slips, after partial solidication thereof, as a unit from said mold, and subjecting it to firing temperatures.

7. The method of producing photographic de` signs in ceramic ware, the steps which comprise: producing a mold from a water-absorbing material and containing in the surface thereof a photographically reproduced intaglio design, the indentations or undulations of said design being of varying depth, completely lling the said indentations or undulations of the mold design with a substantially colorless porcelain slip in a fluid state, allowing the liquid in the slip to be largely absorbed by said mold in order that the slip will form a plastic body in the design bearing portions of the mold, scraping excess portions of the material constituting said plastic' body from the mold to form a smooth nonundulating outer surface, then applying to the smooth outer surface of said body a second slip of substantially the same ceramic composition as the first-named slip but containing a coloring pigment, causing said mold to absorb excess water from the second-named slip to effect partial solidication of the latter, and removing the joined slips as a unit from said mold and subjecting it to firing temperatures.

WALTER. D. FORD. 

